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Who else remembers when the website was advertising CO1 as Ron's "Best drumming album yet!"? The band stated this before it came out. Yes, his drumming sounds pretty solid on the album, but it's not noticably his "best work ever!." Oh, and then he left the band. Pretty obvious they were kissing Ron's ass because they knew he wanted to leave! Anyone else remember this or agree?

Ron is too damn overrated among Offspring fans. Seriously, what makes him so great? He can't even play the standard punk beat (you know, the one that NOFX, Pennywise, Strung Out and others are overusing).
I think Pete is the best.

Ron is too damn overrated among Offspring fans. Seriously, what makes him so great? He can't even play the standard punk beat (you know, the one that NOFX, Pennywise, Strung Out and others are overusing).
I think Pete is the best.

I think Ron can't play drums at all. That's why he did it for so long. Also it's too bad he couldn't play the overused standard punk beat to overuse the beat even more... Are you trolling me?

Ron is too damn overrated among Offspring fans. Seriously, what makes him so great? He can't even play the standard punk beat (you know, the one that NOFX, Pennywise, Strung Out and others are overusing).
I think Pete is the best.

What beat are you referring to? Can you post a link to a song with it or name a specific song? I think I know the beat but I'm not sure. Anyway, I doubt any of Offspring's drummers were playing to the best of their ability. I haven't heard anything too difficult from the bands you mentioned and would be very surprised if Ron couldn't play a pretty standard drum beat.

I'm just going to copy (a revised version of) the post I made in a similar thread.

The best drummer who's ever played with The Offspring is definitely Josh Freese. There's just no question. The man is a monster on the drums, combining power and precision like Topper Headon during the "Give 'Em Enough Rope" period. It's a shame the band never got him behind the kit for a live show (did they?).

Second, I'm gonna say Ron. Say what you will about his stage demeanor (he seemed pretty stoic and reserved, but not any more than Greg) but he was a veritable human metronome, manning a tight and economical rhythm section that never let up. It's no coincidence that he was the drummer who spent the longest time with the band-- all those years of bashing away at the kit allowed him to perfect a very specific playing style that worked wonderfully with the music they made between 1992 and 2000.

Third is Atom Willard, for sheer energy and enthusiasm, as well as the ability to reproduce Josh Freese's drum parts live.

Pete is a good drummer, but I find his hitting a little loose, his bass drum a little sloppy and his cymbal work facile. He bashes out quarter measures instead of eights, which is understandable and helps with stamina (as someone else pointed out, Atom did this too, from time to time), except the band isn't playing much longer shows than they were while Ron was around. He still has time to prove himself, but right now I'm going to say he's by far my least favorite drummer the band has had.

If we are going by sheer talent, then Josh wins by a landslide. Like, it's not even close. There's a very good reason that he's the most sought-after studio drummer in the world. All the other guys who have played for the offspring can't come close to playing the stuff he can do when he's at the top of his game.

Originally Posted by Mojo

Who else remembers when the website was advertising CO1 as Ron's "Best drumming album yet!"? The band stated this before it came out. Yes, his drumming sounds pretty solid on the album, but it's not noticably his "best work ever!." Oh, and then he left the band. Pretty obvious they were kissing Ron's ass because they knew he wanted to leave! Anyone else remember this or agree?

Actually, I would say Co1 actually was Ron's best drumming. His timing and touch was vastly improved in this one over older albums. In a couple songs from previous albums, you can actually blatantly hear him play out of time. Like, often when playing the standard "punk" beat, his snare hits would start off a verse on the "and" of every beat, and by the end of the verse, they would often end up on the downbeat, or vice-versa (see: It'll be a Long Time, Something to Believe In, Mission From God, Have You Ever). His work on Co1 was by far the most solid and in-time playing he's ever done, and some of his fills on the album were actually quite difficult to pull off as well as he did.

What beat are you referring to? Can you post a link to a song with it or name a specific song? I think I know the beat but I'm not sure. Anyway, I doubt any of Offspring's drummers were playing to the best of their ability. I haven't heard anything too difficult from the bands you mentioned and would be very surprised if Ron couldn't play a pretty standard drum beat.

You know, the one with doubles on the bass drum:

and I think I have mistaken Pete as drummer on all songs of Days Go By. I thought he played TFIN and HAS (of which i think that they are the hardest Offspring songs on drums aside of Long Way Home) but after reading the booklet I found out that Josh played on those tracks.
Btw, about accuracy and timing: i think Ron used quantization on CO1 to make the drumming sound tighter.

Overall, I like Pete the best! I've seen them twice with him and he had a great drum sound and nailed the songs better than what I've heard from Ron. Plus, he seems like the most down to earth guy.
Josh is insanely talented! I really started to pay attention to The Offspring's drums once he was in the studio.
I've got nothing against Ron because without him, we wouldn't have a lot of the classic Offspring jams, but I wouldn't put him at the top of this list just because of nostalgia.
And Atom was with the band for such a short time that he's hard to rate, IMO.